


Free Falling

by kittinoir



Series: Reveals [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Reveal Fic, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittinoir/pseuds/kittinoir
Summary: Weredad, except Marinette knows Adrien is Chat Noir.Based on a tumblr prompt from lovelyliliana101
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Reveals [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610080
Comments: 19
Kudos: 206





	Free Falling

Marinette had been prepared for a number of situations in which her identity was revealed. Running out of time after using her lucky charm. Her Miraculous being successfully stolen. Having her mask ripped off, which she hadn’t known couldn’t actually happen until Lady Wifi had tried it.

But having Chat Noir appear on her balcony moments after transforming back in search of Augusts’ pacifier and putting two and two together had never, not once, occurred to her. She’d never anticipated he might follow her. She’d always felt secure in the knowledge he had his own identity to protect, something she realized she’d been taking for granted - especially since she’d accidentally discovered his identity some time ago.

It hadn’t been any specific event, really. More like a series of coincidences that lined up until Adrien had been the one staring back her. Adrien, who was always late but never where he claimed to be. Adrien, who also conveniently disappeared with a lame excuse whenever an akuma attack happened. Adrien, who had dropped _the exact same pun_ on her less than an hour after using it on Ladybug, muttering that “ _at least someone found him funny_ ”. If she’d had to pick a moment, that would be it. Like being struck by lightning. She should have left it, should have just let it be, and if it was anyone else, she would have.

But it wasn’t. So she’d asked Tikki. Or rather, she’d told Tikki. “Adrien’s Chat Noir.” Her kwami’s reaction (surprise, shock, a bad attempt at lying) had pretty much confirmed it. 

And that had been that. Because Adrien loved Ladybug, and she couldn’t reveal her identity, not even for him. Not even if she wanted to, (oh god, she wanted to). It was safer for both of them if he didn’t know. And she’d done a pretty good job - right until the night baby August had been akumatized for a second time. 

Marinette watched in growing horror as those green eyes widened behind the mask, some kind of realization dawning on him. This could not be happening. This _could not_ be happening. 

“This isn’t the first time I’ve bumped into you right after Ladybug transformed back,” he said, studying her. “Could you be…”

Panic, huge and overwhelming, galloped through Marinette’s veins. This was _not_ happening, she decided.

“IN LOVE WITH YOU!” She lunged, throwing herself at him. She felt his free arm automatically go around her as her sudden movement sent her off-balance. 

“Marinette…?”

She couldn’t look up at him. She couldn’t, because if she did, she’d see Adrien, not Chat Noir, staring back at her, and the fading scraps of Ladybugs’ confidence would finally fizzle out and she’d dissolve in the gibbering mess she always was around him.

But some small, not-panicking part of her couldn’t help but notice how…easy that had been. Even though she knew rejection was coming, he hadn’t laughed, hadn’t shoved her way in disgust. He hadn’t said anything, actually, now that she was aware of it.

“Well, I never!” Wait, that wasn’t Adrien’s voice. Marinette jumped back to see her father peeking over the skylight with…glee in his eyes? Oh god. Oh _god_ , this could not get worse. 

Except it could, because suddenly he was inviting Chat Noir - Adrien! - to Sunday brunch with promises of macarons and he was _accepting_. All she could do was watch as he sprung across the rooftops, August in his arms, as her dad clapped her on the shoulder, joking about how he better get started in the bakery. 

She followed her parents back into her room, assuring them she was fine, smiling so hard her teeth hurt. No, she didn’t need anything. No, she wasn’t hurt. Yes, Ladybug had fixed everything. 

Finally, finally, she was left alone. 

So Marinette did the only thing one could do in such circumstances. She climbed into bed, put a pillow over her face, and screamed.

* 

“He’s not coming.”

Marinette scanned the grey Parisian skyline, mustering all the fake confidence she could manage, hands on hips, a doubtful curl in her smile. 

“I don’t know,” Tikki said, hovering behind Marinette’s shoulder. "He’s been rejected by Ladybug so many times…”

“He’s in love with Ladybug,” Marinette said. Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. “There’s no way he’s coming.”

“Maybe he’s changed his mind.”

Marinette snorted. “Adrien? Change his mind? I seriously doubt it. No one’s as stubborn and one-track minded as him.” His presence at school more than proved that. 

Still, Marinette returned to the balcony as the bells of Notre Dame began to peel on the hour. With every second that passed, she felt the tension in her stomach ease, the nerves that had plagued her dreams all last night loosening.

“See?” she said, finally abandoning her post. “I told you he wasn’t coming.”

Thank _god_. Still…some small part she barely even knew was there stung slightly at the rejection. Adrien…he really didn’t have feelings for her.

“Uhhh, looks like you over-estimated Adrien’s feelings for Ladybug.”

Marinette froze, halfway through the sky-light before dashing back to the balcony. Sure enough, there he was vaulting across the rooftops.

“I don’t believe it,” she whispered, unable to do anything but watch as Tikki hid behind her shoulder. “What if…what if Adrien actually has feelings for me? Oh, god, I have to fix this. I have to tell him I didn’t mean it! Wait, I can’t! If I do, he’ll figure out that I only said that so he wouldn’t find out that I’m Ladybug! _And he’ll figure out that I’m Ladybug!_ ”

Marinette barely heard the doorbell over the pounding of her heart, but she did hear her dad calling her from downstairs, way too enthusiastic as his voice drifted through the skylight.

“Tikki, help me!”

*

The past twenty minutes had been excruciating. Not, surprisingly, because of Adrien. He’d actually been quieter, kinder than the partner she knew, more like his civilian self than she’d ever seen. He’d presented her with a pink rose upon his arrival and a kiss on each cheek that had sent tingles down to her very toes. It was hard to remind herself she had to keep him at arms length.

No, her father had been the torturous one, grilling Chat Noir relentlessly as he presented them with plate after plate for heart-shaped foods. It was all Marinette could do to get a word in edge-wise, words her normally attentive father didn’t even seem to hear. 

“Tom,” her mother finally cut in, a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Why don’t we let Chat Noir tell us what he wants?”

“Good idea!” Marinette pounced on the opening. She still didn’t know how to get out of this, but if she could just get her dad to stop talking about her love life, then she’d finally have a shot. And, a tiny part of her admitted, she wanted to hear him say it. She wanted to know his true feelings about her.

“Actually, Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, Marinette, here’s the thing” he finally said, “You’re really nice people, and this meal is delicious and by far the friendliest I’ve had in a long time. Marinette, you’re an awesome girl, and I get that you have feelings for me; after all, I’m awesome in so many ways, even I could fall in love with myself.”

He’s faking it, she realized suddenly. This… _personality_ , the puns, the self-aggrandizing. Not the words, but the person saying them. It wasn’t that it was a lie, it was that Chat Noir was a mask in more ways than one, letting him be more himself than he ever was, and he pushed it to the nth degree, using it as a shield. It was why she’d never figured out he had feelings for Ladybug until he’d told her to her face, but even then she hadn’t put it all together. Part of the reason she’d never reciprocated those feelings was _because_ she hadn’t realized how sincere he could be. 

Or maybe, Marinette realized as a dozen moments flashed through her mind, she’d been so blinded by another crush, she hadn’t seen them. He’d bolstered her the first time they’d faced Hawkmoth, lending her his strength when she hadn’t found hers yet. He’d never pushed her for more than she was willing to give, even after she’d turned him down. He’d lit a rooftop for her, comforted her again when Scarlet Moth had turned their allies against them. He’d sacrificed himself for her time and again, trusting her with his life, with their future, to bring him back. She hadn’t recognized his quick smiles and distracting jokes for what they truly were: a wall, as strong and unyielding as her own, just…different.

“Anyway,” Adrien continued when no one laughed, shaking Marinette from her realization, “I’m afraid my heart belongs to someone else. Even if she keeps rejecting me, even if she loves somebody else, I’m in love with Ladybug.” He turned to her, that sincerity finally shining through. “I’m really sorry, Marinette.”

Everything seemed to stop. _Huh,_ a small, quiet part of her mused, _So that’s what getting rejected would be like. He was so nice about it…_ She didn’t let the thought finish itself, didn’t like where it was heading one bit. 

A second passed. Then another.

“This is so…sad!” Marinette choked out, painfully aware her parents were still watching. She could do it. She could wrap this up. “And to think I followed you everywhere so I could confess my love to you!” Her heart stumbled on the truth of the words, but she barrelled on. He’d unwittingly, painfully, given her a way out and couldn’t waste it. “No one will ever love me!”

Marinette buried her face in her hands, shoulders heaving with fake tears as she ran from the room. She burst through the floor hatch in her room, letting it slam shut behind her as Tiki soared out of her pocket, spinning around her like a little moon. She dropped into her computer chair, equal parts relief and crushing sadness crashing through her. 

“He’s not in love with me, Tikki,” Marinette said, grinning at the close call, the narrow escape. But then…her lips trembled, real tears she hadn’t felt coming sliding down her cheeks. “He’s not in love with me.”

Disappointment, bleak and unyielding, swept through her, obliterating everything else. “He’s not in love with me.” She had hoped, and loved, and pined for so long. It was the hope that had kept her going, that was the reason she’d never been able to fully confess her feelings, secretly relieved at every attempt being thwarted by the universe. As long as she kept her feelings to herself, she was free to dream, to pretend he might feel the same way. To imagine their first date, their first kiss. To pretend it might actually happen. 

“But Marinette,” the kwami said, wiping away a tear, “You know he _is_ in love with you. With Ladybug - ”

“We’re the same person, Tikki,” Marinette said, her voice cracking. “As soon as he finds out I’m her, that’ll be it. I’ll be nothing more than a friend to him, a partner.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Tikki asked knowingly.

No. Finding out Chat Noir and Adrien were the same person had just made her love him more. There was no one she trusted more than Chat Noir, because he understood the burden she carried, the burden they shared. He supported her when she needed it, cheered her, fought with her. And Adrien was quiet, but kind, generous in a way she’d never expected a friend of Chloe’s could be. Patient. Understanding.

Realizing the two were the same person had been catastrophic. Like drinking sunlight. Seeing the two halves come together to form a whole had been _overwhelming_. It had been weeks of close calls before she’d been back on her game. And still, he’d never grown frustrated with her, never demanded to know why she was so distracted. 

“It’s not the same,” Marinette finally said, scrubbing at her face. Tikki gave her a look that said otherwise, but before she could say anything, black shadows leapt from the walls, what looked like purple lightning crackling over the surface. Marinette recognized it, but…there had been no akuma.

“What’s going on?” Marinette surged to her feet. “Tikki!”

“Marinette!”

The shadows engulfed them both, swirling, swirling. The lightning crackled over Marinette’s skin, not painful, but uncomfortable. She reached for her kwami in the darkness, but found nothing. “ _Tikki!_ ” Everything went dark.  
*

When the rumbling finally stopped and Marinette opened her eyes, she found herself ensconced in a prison of rose thorns. Shafts of sunlight lit the interior, too small for her to crawl through. She looked around, and through her pockets, but her kwami was no where to be seen in the giant maze.

“Tikki?” she called out, tentative at first. “Tikki!”

“Marinette?” Marinette lit up at the response, sprinting down a branch toward it.

“Tikki!”

“Marinette!” She slowed, trying to pinpoint the voice. She sounded further away the closer she got. 

“Marinette!”

Marinette froze, peering down to the thorns as though she could see right through them to that second voice. Adrien. He’d come back. He was looking for her. Hope dribbled back in, even as reason reminded her that it was his job - and hers. She’d have be careful.

“This is a magic prison, Marinette,” she heard her kwami say, further away again. “It’s trying to keep me from finding you.” But that didn’t stop her from once again sprinting through the maze, looking for a way out as sounds of a battle began below. If she could get out, Tiki could find her, and she could save…her father? She guessed her heartbreak hurt him almost as much as it hurt her.

Marinette skidded to a stop as she came around a bend and beheld a single rose, illuminated by a shaft of sunlight. Chat Noir’s rose. A gift, she realized, he’d brought to apologize for breaking her heart. The akuma must be in there.

“Ok,” she muttered, embracing the challenge. She made for the rose, but froze again as she heard something trigger. A thorn covered vine abruptly swung across her path, and Marinette dove to avoid it with a surprised cry. Traps. Of course. The whole path was now obscured by swinging vines, the rose nearly invisible. But she could feel it there, and nearly a year of being Ladybug had honed her reflexes, not quite as sharp without the miraculous, but more than enough. 

She made for the rose again, dipping and dodging as she went, stumbling only once or twice. 

“Marinette? Marinette!” Tikki sounded closer this time, but she still couldn’t see the her through the thorns.

“I’m ok!” Marinette called back as she cleared the vines. And she was. She would be. She climbed the rest of the way up the vine and reached for the rose. It disintegrated into purple sand in her fingers, the corrupted akuma flitting away as she recoiled. A crack echoed throughout the prison, followed by another, closer as the vines shifted. The prison abruptly collapsed around them. Marinette couldn’t help a scream as the vines gave way, free-falling through the sky.

“Marinette!”

Tikki appeared at her shoulder, relief shining in her eyes.

“Tikki!” Yes! “Spots on!” She leaned over the vine she was clinging to, already assessing the situation - and met Adrien’s eyes as that tell-tale pink flash enveloped her, Ladybug’s mask blazing across her face. Despite the distance, despite the wind, she could have sworn she heard Adrien gasp.

She saw it, marked it, and filed it away for later. Right now, she was the only one that could save them. But first…

She leapt from the vine, spearing for the akuma. The mid-air purification was new but as straight-forward as any other.

“M’lady!” _Marinette_. She heard him as clearly as if he had shouted her true name across the skies. Adrien waved from where he was free-falling beside her father. 

“I’m coming!” she shouted.

“No!” her father shouted, flailing. “Take care of Marinette, first! She’s somewhere around here!”

“I’m already taken her to safety,” she yelled, the lie coming easily to her lips. In a way, it was true. She couldn’t help a glance towards Adrien, but…was that amusement dancing behind that mask?

“She’s as wonderful as ever.” The wind tore the words from his lips, taking them straight to her ears. “Who wouldn’t be in love with Ladybug?” She didn’t hear the rest of his words. She was too shocked to register them. He knew. He knew, and he still…

“Not all of us know how to land on our feet,” she said, trying not to notice the way Adrien lit up at the pun. “So we’re going to need a little bit of luck. _Lucky Charm!_ ”

A red and black sail boat burst into existence, scooping them up roughly. “Chat Noir.” _Adrien_. “Do your thing!”

He nodded, grinning fiercely. “Cataclysm!”

The bottom of the boat disintegrated, leaving the sail and mast behind. “Hold on!”

It was like he could read her mind as they quickly arranged the remaining parts of the boat into a parasail. But then, their relationship had always been that way; he always seemed to know exactly what she needed, when she needed it. 

Marinette was glad for her fathers’ presence between the two of them as they glided back down to the streets of Paris. She could feel Adrien staring at her on the other side, as though he could see through her father, through her mask. As though trying convince himself what he’d seen had simply been a trick of the light.

The landing was easy, gentle even. And then her father was no longer a shield as he ran to his wife, leaving a heavy silence between the two of them. Marinette forced herself to lift her eyes, to face whatever she would see.

He knew. She could see it in his pain-flecked eyes, in that brief moment when she’d been too panicked, too careless, he’d seen her. He’d recognized her. He knew it was her.

“Pound it, m’lady,” he said. He barely raised his hand when he stumbled, collapsing on her. Marinette responded on instinct, her arms going around him to hold him up. She suddenly recalled the sounds of the battle from outside her prison. He hadn’t just come for her; he’d fought for her. But with those words, she knew. She knew he’d pretend he hadn’t seen anything, that he’d never bring it up or ask her about it again if she didn’t want him to. He’d keep both their secrets.

But the thought from lunch whispered through her mind, completing itself before she could shut it out. _So that’s what getting rejected would be like. He was so nice about it…almost like he wished it wasn’t true. Like maybe he did love me, a little._

“Pound it…Adrien.” She felt him jerk in her arms at the sound of his name, quiet enough for only him to hear. She flung the sail into the sky, summoning the miraculous ladybugs. Marinette braced herself as Adrien’s strength returned and he rose to his full height, meeting her eyes.

And he laughed. “I guess I was wrong,” he said. She couldn’t help but notice that though he’d been healed, a hand still rested on her waist, the other behind her back.

“Wrong?” she echoed. Her heart pounded as hope flared in her chest.

“My heart _does_ belong to you,” he said, “…Marinette.” The hand on her back rose up to cup her face, a thumb caressing her cheekbone. He raised an eyebrow, a silent question, a request for permission. 

Marinette responded by kissing him first, winding her fingers in his hair to hold him closer. She giggled as she felt that belt wrap around her waist, as Adrien held onto her with everything that he was. So long. She had waited so long for him, for this. It was a small miracle. He was her miracle.

“You have some explaining to do,” Adrien murmured as they separated at last. Marinette might have felt self-conscious were it not for the amused quirk of his smile, the adoration she felt in every touch. Like in the time it had taken the ladybugs to repair the damage, he’d pieced together that she’d known who he was for some time now, as well as why she’d kept it to herself. 

“Promise, Kitty,” Marinette said, unable to stop herself from flicking his bell. “Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Weredad is my absolute favourite episode of Miraculous (I'm definitely in it for Adrien/Chat admitting how much he cares about Marinette), so when I saw this prompt, I couldn't not write it. I hope you guys liked it <3


End file.
